Alan Miller (journalist)

Alan C. Miller (born March 5, 1954^[1]) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and the founder of the News Literacy Project,^[2] a national education nonprofit that works with educators and journalists to offer resources and tools that help middle school and high school students learn to separate fact from fiction. In 2020, NLP expanded its audience to include people of all ages.^[3]

Alan C. Miller
Born	(1954-03-05) March 5, 1954 (age 70)
Education	Wesleyan University, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Employer	News Literacy Project
Title	Founder (retired as CEO in 2022)
Awards	2003 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
Website	newslit.org

Early life

Born in New York City to Martin and Anita Miller (urbanist), Miller was raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey.^[4] In 1976, he received a bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Wesleyan considers him one of its "notable alumni."^[5] He received a master's degree in political science in 1978 from the University of Hawaii^[2] and was a student participant at the East-West Center's Communication Institute. During his post-graduate studies he was an intern in the Tokyo bureau of The Washington Post.

Career

Miller was a reporter for The Times Union in Albany, New York, and The Record in Hackensack, New Jersey, before joining the Los Angeles Times in 1987. Seven years later he became a member of the Times' investigative team in Washington.^[6] During his career, he received more than a dozen national journalism awards, including for reports on illegal foreign contributions to Democratic candidates (the 1996 George Polk Award, the 1997 National Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting and the 1997 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting) and for "The Vertical Vision," a series, written with Kevin Sack, about the dangers of the Marine Corps' McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II jet (the 2002 Investigative Reporters and Editors Medal, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and the 2003 Associated Press Managing Editors Association Public Service Award).

In 2006, he was invited to tell the sixth-grade classes at his daughter's school in Bethesda, Maryland, about his work as a journalist. The 175 thank-you notes he received led him to consider the impact that journalists could have in the classroom. Two years later he left the Times and founded the News Literacy Project.^[7]

Miller has served on the advisory board of Stony Brook University's Center for News Literacy^[8] and the board of the American Society of News Editors.^[9] He was a fellow at the Japan Society in 1998 and the Peter Jennings Project at the National Constitution Center in 2008. He has spoken at a number of colleges and universities and has appeared on panels sponsored by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the International Center for Journalists, the National Endowment for Democracy, and Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.^[10]

Washingtonian magazine named him a Washingtonian of the Year in December 2020.^[11] In October 2021 he was named one of five recipients of the 2022 AARP Purpose Prize, awarded to people age 50 and older "who use their knowledge and life experience to solve challenging social problems."^[12] The East-West Center presented him with its Distinguished Alumni Award in June 2022.^[13] The global cross-sector collaboration platform Ideagen named him a 2023 Power Innovator,^[14] and he was interviewed by George Sifakis, Ideagen's founder and CEO, as part of the organization's 2023 Global Innovation Summit, an online event that began streaming in March 2023.^[15]

Miller retired as CEO of the News Literacy Project on June 30, 2022.^[16]

Journalism awards

• 1981 New York State Publishers State Government Coverage Award of Excellence
• 1996 George Polk Award for Political Reporting, Los Angeles Times, "Money From Asia"^[17]
• 1997 National Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting, Los Angeles Times, "Money From Asia"^[18]
• 1997 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, Los Angeles Times, "Illegal Democratic Campaign Contributions"^[19]
• 2002 Investigative Reporters and Editors Medal, "The Vertical Vision"^[20]
• 2003 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, "The Vertical Vision"^[1]
• 2003 Associated Press Managing Editors Association Public Service Award
• 2005 (second place) John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism,^[21] "Environmental Politics"
• 2008 National Press Club Consumer Journalism Award,^[22] "Danger in Tow"
• 2008 National Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting (third place), "Danger in Tow"^[23]

References

1. The 2003 Pulitzer Prize Winner in National Reporting. "Alan Miller and Kevin Sack of Los Angeles Times". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2020-09-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. "News Literacy Project: Meet the Team". News Literacy Project. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
3. "Annual report: NLP meets challenges, expands mission". News Literacy Project. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
4. Frey, David (2017-07-10). "Fighting Fake News | Page 2 of 4". Bethesda Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
5. "Notable Alumni, About - Wesleyan University". www.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
6. "U-Haul: About this series". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 2021-01-29.
7. Holder, William (2010-06-15). "Check It Twice". Wesleyan University Magazine.
8. . Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30.
9. "2014 ASNE Board of Directors". News Leaders Association. from the original on 2021-01-23.
10. "Alan Miller". Yale University Office of Public Affairs & Communications.
11. "Meet Our 2020 Washingtonians of the Year". Washingtonian. 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
12. Staff, AARP. "AARP Announces 2022 Purpose Prize Winners". AARP. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
13. "EWC/EWCA Alumni Award Recipients". East-West Center | www.eastwestcenter.org. 2022-05-29. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
14. @IdeagenGlobal (April 18, 2023). "Ideagen's 2023 Power Innovators. Recognizing individuals redefining the Future through innovation, like the News Literacy Project's Alan Miller" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-04-20 – via Twitter.
15. Alan Miller, News Literacy Project: 2023 Global Innovation Summit, retrieved 2023-04-20
16. Alan C. Miller [@alanmillerNLP] (June 30, 2022). "Today is my last day as CEO of ⁦@NewsLitProject⁩, which I founded in 2008. I am incredibly proud of our talented team & growing impact & remain deeply committed to our vital mission. I will be full-time as founder for another year & remain on the board indefinitely" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
17. "Past Winners | Long Island University". liu.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
18. "Times Wins 2 Top Honors in Headliner Awards". Los Angeles Times. 1997-03-19.
19. . Shorenstein Center. Archived from the original on 2017-07-11. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
20. . IRE. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25.
21. "The John B. Oakes Award for Environmental Journalism". Columbia Journalism School.
22. "National Press Club Journalism Awards". National Press Club. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
23. "2008 – Print/Photo | National Headliner Awards". www.headlinerawards.org. Retrieved 2021-01-29.